Rain is pelting down on the old mining town of Hindley in Lancashire. This is Brexit country, far from the finance and football stars of the nearby city of Manchester. In Hindley, for sale signs hang on every other house and closed pubs cry out for new owners.
It is also here that Britain's immediate political fate will be decided.
Hindley is located in the Makerfield constituency, where Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is now running for a vacant seat in the British House of Commons.
If he succeeds, he has promised to challenge the hard-pressed Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the party leadership and the role of head of government.
Fight against Reform
Burnham is called the "King of the North" and is very popular in dynamic Manchester.
"He's a traditional politician who gets things done, not like those in London," snorts voter Keith on the street in Hindley.
The only problem is that it may not be enough. Many in Hindley plan to do like Keith - and choose someone else instead.
In the local elections here in early May, the far-right Reform UK party took home 24 of the 25 council seats that were at stake.
"People are looking for alternatives. They want to give Reform a chance. I want to give Reform a chance," Keith explains.
Not talking about the EU
So even though Makerfield is considered one of Labour's "safest" constituencies in the entire country, it is far from a given that Burnham will be able to defeat Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon in Thursday's election.
Ironically, he may be helped by the fact that the far-right votes are split between Reform UK and the even more nationalist and anti-immigrant breakaway party Restore.
Burnham, 56, likes to present himself as a regular local guy, in a T-shirt and bomber jacket. He has stopped talking about wanting to rejoin the EU and instead emphasizes that the Brexit referendum must be respected - crucial in a constituency where two-thirds voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Better than Starmer?
The uphill battle is quite tough, however. Britain has had six different prime ministers in ten years and there is great dissatisfaction among voters who find it difficult to see any positive development.
The same goes for Ross, Ben and Lauren in central Manchester. Here too, there are doubts whether Burnham can make any real difference.
"People are very divided about him," says Lauren.
"But at least he can't be worse than Keir Starmer," Ben thinks.
Andy Burnham, born in 1969, has been Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He previously served in the British Parliament for the Labour Party from 2001, was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, and Health Secretary from 2009 to 2010.
Burnham hopes to challenge Keir Starmer for the post of party leader and prime minister, but according to Labour rules, he must first be re-elected to Parliament. An opportunity has opened up after party colleague Josh Simons voluntarily resigned his seat in the Makerfield constituency, where a replacement will now be elected in a by-election on June 18.
Makerfield is located west of Manchester in an old mining area with just over 75,000 voters, mainly in the small towns of Ashton-in-Makerfield and Hindley.
